Tuesday, December 1, 2009

12 reasons to smile

I am doing really well. After one bad week (with the root canal and colon polyps) I have been pleasantly surprised that my mood has bounced back quickly and I am feeling great. All in all, since I have set the date for my pbm, the good days have out numbered the bad days. I think part of that is I just don't need to think about it much anymore now that it is in motion. I am also trying to concentrate on enjoying the time I have left with 'my girls' rather than focusing on my fear and grief over losing them. But part of it is just my personality. I don't mind change, as long as it is on my terms! It can take me some time to accept and absorb new things but once you give me a little room I can usually handle it. It does makes me a little uneasy looking over to the left and seeing the tickers counting down the days. My sis will be having her surgery next week! Wow. But I know she will do great and that will give me some courage for my own. The time will be here before I know it so I guess I should get motivated and write out a list of things I'd like to get done before February. And I'll need to include at least one more fun trip on that list instead of just cleaning and crap like that!

Still flying high from our time at Arches. While in moab, we stopped at a couple of shops and picked up a calendar from one of our new favorite artists, Serena Supplee. I stumbled upon her art last spring at a cute bookstore in moab, Back of Beyond Books. We always like to find time for the bookstores cuz dw is a librarian after all! And while she peruses the books, I am always looking at the postcards and picture books. I can't stay away from the books full of the nature pics or pics of cities and countries I'd like to see. So I stumbled upon some beautiful note cards from Serena and had to get a few of course:) It was too hard to pick just one. She also had an amazing book there of the grand canyon, Inner Gorge Metaphors, which one day will sit on our (imaginary) coffee table. Her art is mostly watercolors and oils of the landscapes of the colorado plateau. Now when it comes to art, I usually go for the photography stuff. I like the crispness and the realism. But Supplee's paintings really capture my attention. Sometimes a place is so beautiful that a photo can't really do it justice. It's just too one dimensional or something. Don't ask me, I'm not an artsy person! I just know I'm a visual person and I really like looking at pictures. So when I look at Supplee's art it makes me happy. It invokes feeling. Maybe I've been to the place in the painting and it takes me back there. Or maybe I haven't been there and it makes me want to go. Either way, I have this awesome calendar now, and although it will be marked up with all kinds of tod appointments I get to look at all the beautiful paintings and smile.

With Supplee's permission, I have included some pictures I took of some of the pages from her calendar. I think it is fitting that February's is called 'pink percussion.' We all get the pink connection to breast cancer! But the water is significant as well. I love water and even though I am not a strong swimmer I do love to boogie board and have tried surfing a couple of times too. And I am a cancer (zodiac, people) and love to just sit and stare at the water. And my surgeon, the one who will give me my new boobs, likes to call herself a mermaid and will no doubt put in some early morning laps and smell like chlorine during my surgery.

I'm so glad to hear that you are doing well. Those pictures are really pretty!

Also, good luck to your sister, she'll be in my thoughts! Having just gone through it, I can say with confidence that I'm sure she'll get through it just fine. Especially with the support of such wonderful family. :)

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About Me

Diagnosed with noninvasive dcis breast cancer (left breast) and brca2 mutation in July 2009 and dcis again in February 2011 (right breast). This is the story of my struggles, setbacks, choices, triumphs, good days and bad days and other things learned along the way on my new brca+ journey.